Alpha-6
by SilverWolf6181
Summary: The SCP Foundation has always existed to protect and serve humanity. When a certain string of enemy activity and abnormal SCP behavior arises, Mobile Task Forces Alpha-1 and Alpha-6 must come together and three of the O5 council must cooperate in order to set things back to a normal pace. Can they fix what has been wronged before things get out of hand?
1. Prolouge

"SCP-682 has been successfully recontained. The Site itself has sustained much damage."

"Typical. Prepare evacuation protocol 175." Dr. O rolled her eyes and removed her cap as the reporting agent nodded and left to relay the orders. The O5 rubbed her temples as the lower ranking Commander of her Mobile Task Force approached her.

"Everything okay, ma'am?" Commander Black remove her helmet and looked at her superior.

"This is a disaster." Dr. O placed the baseball cap back on her head, rubbing her eyes.

"Well it is SCP-682. I suppose this sort of damage is to be expected." The two started walking back to the elevated platform where a helicopter was waiting for them. Members from multiple Mobile Task Force Units ran past them, some heading back into the facility, others heading out.

"Estimated time of recovery for the Site at large?" Dr. O looked at the Commander, knowing she was one of the best members of the Foundation when it came to statistics.

"Hard to say. Anywhere between two weeks and two months. The fucker knew exactly what he was doing and smashed half the facility on purpose. Whatever God works miracles though, I guess we should be thanking them, not a single other SCP escaped while he was throwing his temper tantrum."

"So all that's left now is transfer to other site." The O5 nodded as they both boarded the helicopter that held Mobile Task Force Alpha-6. After a quick scan of the faces she looked at the pilot and asked.

"Who's missing?"

"Dr. P, ma'am." The pilot, a tan skinned redhead with bright green eyes and freckles looked at her from his seat before turning his attention back to the console.

"Damn it, Peters. Where the hell are you?" As if on cue, the second supporting O5 commander of Alpha-6 walked inside, the copter door sliding shut behind him.

"My apologies, Dr. Bright thought now was a good time to-" A loud clap echoed through the vehicle as Dr. O's right hand made contact with the male O5's cheek.

"Timing, Peterson. Timing."

Dr. P frowned and rubbed his reddening pale cheek with a gloved hand, ice blue eyes glaring through wavy raven locks at his colleague. She met his gaze with an apathetic expression and gripped one of the many hanging bars of the vehicle as it began to rise. Other members of Alpha-6 were strapped into their seats and speaking quietly amongst themselves as Commander Black made her way over to Dr. P.

"Any clue as to how 682 got out?"

"According to footage, it was just another attempted escape on its part." The O5 responded.

"A successful attempt." Dr. O crossed her arms, leaning against the wall.

"It's not our concern, Jones." Dr. P looked at her. "Our specialties are Euclid and Safe class."

"Then Dr. Cool and I shall definitely be talking about revisions to current containment procedures."

Dr. P opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it. Dr. O was in no mood to be spoken to, she was frustrated and serious about this, even if she only showed cold apathy. This bothered her to no end, he could see it in her eyes, and she'd made up her mind. There was no trying to convince her otherwise. Commander Black sensed the tension and wanted to ease it but had little idea as to how, now noticing all the passengers had gone silent. Twenty minutes of total deafening silence passed, only the sounds of the copter blades and whirring machinery keeping anyone from going insane, before the pilot, Kino, spoke up.

"We'll be arriving at Site-24 in ten minutes."

No one dared speak. Not until the copilot, Agent Bomb walked in. "Seven. Eight. There's a call in the cockpit for you two."

The two looked at each other before following the copilot to see who could be contacting them. Commander Black turned to her Mobile Task Force.

"I'm proud of you all." This caught several people off guard. Some looked at her with suspicion, some with fear, many with shock and confusion.

"Pardon?" Lafayette, one of the Mobile Task Force's front runners, looked at her.

"You all followed orders perfectly, helped recontain 682, and survived a struggle against one of the deadliest SCPs the Foundation has. A Keter class threat. That's a task worthy of praise, so I'll be the first one to give it to you. The Commander of Mobile Task Forces will easily disregard it as part of the job, but I will acknowledge it as an achievement."

Several people smiled and nodded. One stood up though, Levi Tusk, and looked at his Commander, making all fall silent.

"As great as an achievement this is, Commander Black, I'm afraid we wouldn't be here receiving thanks if it was no for your commanding skill. Your guidance is likely the reason we are all alive right now. Thank you, and Dr. O, and Dr. P." Levi stiffened for a moment before sitting back down.

The Commander smiled warmly and nodded. All was silent for a moment before the descending feeling washed over them.

"Landing in two minutes." Kino called to them as Dr. O and Dr. P walked back in.

"Are we all ready to get off?" Dr. P looked at Commander Black, who nodded in response. Several people grabbed their backpacks and stood up as the vehicle made contact with the ground once more. The doors opened with a hiss and the O5s stepped out, Commander Black following suit with her Mobile Task force lined up and marching in a three by four pattern behind her.

Dr. Carver immediately walked up to the two O5s shaking their hands and explaining to them something Commander Black had clearly missed out on. She paid little mind to it though, having been through this procedure a thousand and one times before. She ordered her Mobile Task Force to follow her upon entry to the site. They marched behind her, obedient and silent, following her into a briefing room and taking their seats. Commander Black walked up to the pedestal and tested the microphone, double checking that all her units were accounted for, and opening her mouth to speak when she froze. The very sight of the object made her blood run cold.

There, in the very back of the room, was a small brown, black bow-tie wearing, stuffed bear.


	2. Chapter 1: The Arrival

She rubbed her eyes, blinking several times, looking up to see it had vanished.

 _"Could it just have been a hallucination?"_ She shook off the feeling and called her Mobile Task Force to attention. They looked at her serious expression, uneasy about the speech she was about to give.

"Welcome back to Site 24. You all know exactly what I'm going to lecture you about already, and I'm sure many of you are thinking Hell would be preferable to this place. However, SCP-1048 and its little duplicates are still at large and a serious threat. You know the drill. No stuffed animals. Keep your eyes peeled. Shoot on sight. I don't want anymore casualties attained to this little bastard. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The crowd erupted in unison. Commander Black nodded and stepped off the stage, dismissing her squad. Her office wasn't too far from the conference room and for that she was glad. As she entered, she quickly slipped out of her jumpsuit and armor and into her lab coat and research wear. It had been a long time since she'd seen this place. It was both a warm wave of nostalgia to be back, and a cold grip of terror. Mostly from the memories of seeing that hellish toy that had gone from a Safe class to a Keter class in a matter of moments.

A knock at her door caught her attention. Opening it, she was greeted by the sight of Agent Kayla White smiling at her. Golden and emerald eyes looked at her through dyed pink hair up in a ponytail. Her second in command of the Mobile Task Force and closest friend beamed at her. "So what's our first assignment?"

"Well, assuming that everyone is doing their job, which I know for a fact we've got a few slackers, our first objective is to meet up Kondraki and Clef."

"Ugh, not Clef." Kayla groaned, brow furrowing in distaste. While multiple members of the Mobile Task Force had learned to tolerate Clef and Bright, given they had Agent Bomb, those who had a higher level of common sense didn't trust Clef. Candice despised him. If it were up to her she would never look in his direction but her assignment meant she had other plans.

"I know, but O said he was transferred here to take a break from the 106 study. The cryptic little shit." Kayla raised a brow and gave puzzled expression. "What? She thinks that 1048 is suddenly a reality bender?"

"Dr. O has her reasons. Besides, we still don't know where 1048 gets its materials to craft the little abominations. More likely, he probably showed interest in you." Kayla cringed, remembering that before she was an agent and researcher she was a Euclid level reality warping SCP. "Oh... Right..."

"P's coming too."

"Seven? Isn't the Builder Bear a Keter class? That's Dr. Cool's specialty."

The two began to walk down several brightly lit corridors. Too brightly lit, if a little. Same old Site-24. The smell of metal and crisp corn chips lingered in the air.

"Yes, but prior to its little hormone surge it was a Safe class, meaning Doc P probably knows more about 1048 than any personnel who interacted with it." Kayla snickered at a sudden thought.

"So Dr. O and Dr. Cool are working together for this one?"

"Don't even think about it, Kayla. Those two are the last people on earth who would make a good couple." Candice narrowed her eyes at her childhood friend.

"Mmm... Maybe. But their rivalry seems friendly, playful even. I still say they are perfectly compatible."

"Save your ships for another day." The two arrived at the O5s office.

As they stepped in they were greeted by Dr. O sitting at her desk, writing several notes on a sheet of paper. Dr. P was humming a tune and typing at his computer in a chair, and Dr. Cool was in a corner of the room by a book shelf. It was one of those rare times she'd seen Dr. Cool wearing his glasses. She could just make out the title on the cover that his hand wasn't blocking. _'World War II'._ He didn't move his head, no, simply glanced at her from his peripheral.

"It's quite rude to stare, Agent."

Candice immediately looked away, not even realizing how long her gaze had lingered upon him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she found something fascinating about Dr. Cool. Maybe it was attraction, despite her knowledge that he was a dangerous man. Perhaps it was that dangerous beauty that caught her attention. She brushed the feeling off though, simply dismissing it as his mask that was distracting her in her mind.

"Why is everyone in the same office?" Kayla asked.

"We have to share it. Under normal circumstances we would all have our own rooms but unfortunately, a majority of the site is under lock down and investigation." Dr. O replied, shuffling through the papers before setting them aside.

"That aside, you are aware of your mission, Agent Black?" Dr. Cool placed a bookmark, a pressed rose, in his book and shut it, his predatory gaze turning on the duo. Candice nodded in response, a slight shiver running up her spine at the metallic grating voice he had. "I advise you both be very cautious with this assignment. 1048 is still at large and while it is a stuffed animal, it's a Keter class that has caused the death of more than a few researchers." 

"Understood, sir. We'll find the Builder Bear and fix his little creations." Kayla saluted. Twelve merely nodded and flipped his book back open to continue reading. With that, they were dismissed. The door had barely closed behind them when both of them found themselves covered in pink powdered hair dye and glitter. Candice rubbed the cosmetics out of her eyes and glared at the MTF unit in front of her. Agent Bomb's witty grin quickly melted into a nervous smile at the sight of his commander.

"Oh, Candice... Didn't see you there... I was actually aiming for O and P-" Candice cut him off though, patting the shoulder of the coughing pink-head beside her.

"That's enough messing around, Bomb. We have a job to do. Shape up or I'll drag Cool on your ass." Bomb gave a joking nod and skipped off quickly.

"Well said." Candice nearly jumped at voice that came from behind her. She hadn't even heard the office door open. _'Speak of the Devil...'_ She thought.

After several moments passed without movement from Candice due to her surprise and tense muscles Dr. Cool merely chuckled and brushed past her, knocking her shoulder gently. Well, gently to him. Dr. Cool was only a bit taller than Candice but he was much stronger with his constant training, leaving her with a strong thought that she would have bruise on her arm for a couple days. He merely continued walking, eyes focused on the book in his hand. 'Must be a history buff.' A snicker crossed her face. Perhaps he hadn't noticed the large pick smudge that was now on his shoulder. 'If he wasn't fabulous before then he is now.'

Candice shook her head though. While all the O5 had their own mysteries Dr. Cool wasn't like others. There was much more to him than what anyone could see with just their eyes, almost as if his past wore a mask as much as he did. She had no time to delve into it though. 1048 wasn't going to contain itself. She nudged her partner and skittered down the hall. "Come on, Kay. We've got a bear trap to set."

 **Dr. Cool belongs to TheHauntedReader, (special thanks to the cutie for allowing me to use his character in my story! ^w^) Dr. O, Dr. P, Alex, Candice, and MTF Alpha-6 all belong to me!**


	3. Chapter 2: Balancing Power

After another day Alpha-1 arrived and received orders and instructions from Dr. Cool. Candice mingled with several old comrades she'd known within the Mobile Task Force, including a cheeky redhead with brown eyes and a freckled smiled.

"It's been too long." Candice laughed and fistbumped the male. He merely chuckled. "Damn, this place's security is tighter than the O5s security measures on 106. _And_ we've got two Grade-A MTFs here? What's the occasion?"

"O5 wanted us to take care of Builder Bear." Candice told him as they walked to the main building.

"No kidding? What'd the thing do this time?"

"They didn't say. They've got a whole quarter of O5 here. P, O, and Cool. Did Com tell you anything?"

"All Doc C said was that we'd be working very closely with you guys and that we're planning on getting 1048 back under lock and key."

"Branding!" The two turned back to see Dr. Cool glaring at them. "I am hearing more bullshit and less working!"

"Yes, sir!" Alex saluted. Candice merely rolled her eyes, to which Cool gave a half-annoyed half-bemused look. Sometimes the agent felt that this particular O5 enjoyed getting on people's nerves but didn't like getting a taste of his own medicine.

"Come on, Alex. Let's go grab some grub." Candice suggested. The male smirked. "You're just trying to get away from old metal mouth."

"That too." Without another word, the two headed off to secure a seat at the breakfast table.

If her ears could perk up they would've as the door in front of her slammed closed. "Hello, Twelve."

"Impressive. I must inquire how you knew it was me though." He raised a brow, smirking a bit under his mask.

"P isn't a brute. You on the other hand, you slam those doors like they don't cost money." Dr. O looked up from the document she was writing.

"Ah, but even a fool boasting my strength would know well to treat such a delicate flower as yourself with the greatest gentleness." A gloved hand gripped her chin, to which Dr. O pulled away, furrowing her brow.

"Save your cheesy one-liners for the idiots who will actually buy them." O sneered. "I thought you were asexual."

Cool merely chuckled and continued on, unfazed by her words and a slight purr adorning his tone. "Oh, but I am asexual. _A sexual-ly_ aroused man in the presence of women such as yourself."

Halfway into his flirtatious comment the woman had picked up her mug of hot cocoa and began sipping it. By the end of his statement she found herself half choking on it and nearly spitting it onto him. A harsh glare, shining over with slight disgust and sympathy immediately met his gaze. "Again. Save your flirtatious lines for the researchers who will actually believe you."

Dr. Cool merely laughed. Of course he was only joking around, he was indeed asexual and was known to flirt with some of the female staff when he had nothing else to do. In his opinion, Dr. O was probably the most amusing to get a reaction out of when he could. Perhaps he hadn't caught on to the fact that the only reason Agent Bomb got away with pranking him all the time was because it was Dr. O approving it as a means to get back at him. He watched as she walked out of the room and rolled his eyes. The girl really needed to learn to lighten up. The door opened again and Dr. P looked over at him.

"O just stormed down the hallway and looked pretty pissed to boot." P narrowed his eyes at his colleague. "The Hell did you say to her?"

"I don't have any work at the moment and seeing a flustered Eight is the highlight of my day today." He winked. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

P muttered to himself and walked over to the desk. "Like Hell I can't..."

Cool looked at him and chuckled after a few moments. "Fine, where is she? I'll apologize if it makes the sensitive little woman feel better."

"Find her yourself if you care so much." P replied sarcastically. "Or will you get lost in the crowd considering that you're 5'8" and she's 6'5", huh, short stack?"

Cool merely chuckled at what he considered a weak comeback and left the room. Apologies weren't on his mind, oh no, he wasn't going to let his colleague slip away that easily.

Candice and Alex parted ways for routine exercise training after their lunch. On the way to track for a warm up run she saw her O5 commander and jogged over.

"Hello, O5-8. What brings you by?"

"Hello Candice. I just needed a breath of fresh air. There's only so much oxygen in a room with Dr. Cool around." They both snickered at the small joke before assembling into formation with their team. Dr. O nodded and snapped her fingers, disturbing the silence and causing a stampede of MTF Units to charge forward around the track. She had to say, in the years that she'd been placed as the O5 commander of the Alpha-6 she'd been proud at seeing their accelerated improvement. It brought a proud grin to her face.

Only a few minutes later had the team completed their warm up of 30 laps and were barely breaking a sweat. Now came the real practice. "Drop and give me fifty."

The entire task force was on the ground, counting loudly in unison as they worked their muscles. Her reverie about how far she'd come was interrupted by a familiar blue-eyed male. "My how time passes so quickly."

"It seems as though only yesterday the first ten were still tripping over their feet with Candice as their determined leader." She looked back at Dr. P. He nodded.

"We certainly have grown ourselves as well, haven't we?" P chuckled as they reminisced to the olden days where they were just starting in the Foundation. Doctor Everett Peterson, a spirited young man with a heart of gold that matched his looks. He started out as a Junior Researcher, helping deliver paperwork and look where he was now. Beside him now was standing Doctor A. Celeste Jones, a woman of good faith and judgement, fair in her ways, and who started off as a military expert... Well, a military expert under the impersonation of her brother... The two had remained good friends throughout the years, needless to say.

"I'd say we have." She tapped his head, him being almost too tall to reach it. Despite Dr. O being taller than most people in the Foundation, P's 7'3" easily tramped O's 6'5". Needless to say, their sizes kept them out of trouble as they climbed through the ranks of the Foundation. Now that they were O5's to boot they were simply too big to be threatened. There wasn't a single person who could touch them.

Noticing the team had finished the push-ups so quickly, Dr. O chuckled and ordered them into formation, dividing Alpha-6 into two teams for a daily game of football. It made for good exercise and the team liked it so it had become a thing after nearly everyone requested it. The MTFs chuckled as they got into their designated teams and started the game.

"Ah, the pride of the Foundation?" Both wanted to roll there eyes and groan at the voice they heard behind them.

"Is there something you need, Dr. Bright?" O turned to face him.

"We looked over recorded activity and camera feed for SCP-173. You might want to come see this."


	4. Chapter 3: Discovery

The familiar sculpture stood in the corner of its cell, pressed against the wall. Nothing new. But what camera footage had presented sent a shiver down several researcher's spines. Between camera distortions the object would back up and come forward towards its cell door. The sounds of loud banging and horrid screeching and scratching, like nails on a chalkboard, came from the monster while it was too far off for the camera to see. Everyone knew exactly what it was trying to do.

"It's trying to get out..." P stood up. The Safe class specialist looked to his colleague, the O5 specialized in Euclid studies.

"Was there any other strange behavior prior to this?" She looked at the man currently in charge of 173's containment, Dr. Victor Blanks.

"According to the log the guards keep on this thing, the cell's been silent for the past three weeks."

"And no one thought to tell the acting supervisor?" O crossed her arms.

"He brushed it off as nothing but the thing trying to escape." Blanks responded.

"Typical newbie." P butted in. "This is pure aggression."

"Send in three D-Class. That cell needs cleaning." They looked at her.

"And if it is aggression?"

"I guess we'll find out then, now won't we? One bridge at a time." The two watched her leave and heard her mutter under her breath. "Men. So impatient."

"You do realize it's only because we want results, right?" O couldn't hold back the annoyed groan that fled her lips in that moment.

"You're the last person I want to see right now. What do you want?" She glared at the masked man.

"I came to see the status of SCP-173."

"You're the Keter specialist." She narrowed her eyes. "Obviously you came for something else or another reason entirely. No one can be sure of you since everyone knows you've killed more people than Ted Bundy and still haven't been punished for it. That which you do say could very well be a lie. Now, why don't you go play with your little bodyguards, Keter-boy?"

Dr. O brushed past him, knocking his shoulder. He didn't flinch but ended up rubbing his shoulder. Like him, O didn't mean to be so brutal at times but her excuse was the fact she was much taller and heavy handed. Candice saw her commander walk past her and wanted to say something but her face read rage. Looking back she saw Dr. Cool and sighed. "Sir, with all due respect, you seem like the type who enjoys badgering people but dislikes being pestered himself."

Cool chuckled at the white-blonde girl. "Very observant of you, Agent."

Candice gave him a wistful look, staring for a moment, before she continued down the hall. Cool watched her before shaking his head and heading back to their office. Candice was more focused on talking to several researchers about a strange trend she'd started to notice. What researchers? Her teammates.

There was a soft chatter around the table all members of Alpha-6 were sitting at it. Candice walked in and all fell silent as she dropped several folders, the papers and documents scattering around. A dark skinned male with chocolate hair, freckles, and bright green eyes looked at her. "What's all this?"

"Report 173-6-2-2016." Agent Bomb read out. Another girl, hair blonde with a single piece dyed silver and deep sapphire eyes read another paper. "Report 682-5-16-16."

"Report 999-5-27-2016."

"Are you all seeing the trend like I am?" Candice asked.

"The behavior is changing. 173's becoming more aggressive, 682 appears to be a bit more mellow to a degree, and even 999 is acting different..."

"You're thinking it's something anomalous?" Kayla piped up.

"Exactly. That's only explanation." Candice nodded.

Jacob Daalmans, a boy with bright green eyes, dark skin, and chocolate brown locks that were dyed in a rainbow around the bangs, spoke up. "But with anomalous creatures like these, it could be literally any kind of phenomena that we're not familiar with."

"Which is why I need you guys' help in finding any evidence so it can be presented to O5." Candice stood up and looked around.

"Log 408-5-18-2016. SCP-408 too?" Agent Bomb flipped through the notes. "If 408's acting strangely then our best bet would be to ask Kondraki about it."

"999 is a Safe-Class capable of communicating with humans to a degree. Asking him might help provide some handy knowledge." Kayla added.

"Log 106-11-13-14? 106 too?" Bomb looked at her.

"Let's just be general and say that most, if not all SCPs are changing their behavioral patterns and we don't have a clue as to why."

"But why though?" The frustrating game of Clue continued on amongst the team members until Candice simply could not stand the headache that had formed any longer. Now it was just her and Alex.

They had to find something...

"The view is quite lovely." O barely held the groan that wanted to escape her lips. Could she get no peace?

"Are you going to follow me everywhere I go?" O turned to face the masked O5. He was smirking, she could see it. She glared and tried to walk past him when he failed to give a response but he stopped her, a gloved hand gripping her arm.

"Where are you going now?" She didn't even turn to look at him and he only barely caught her words as she hissed out.

"As far away from you as humanly possible in a site like this." He gently pulled her back, catching her in his arms before she fell back too far. The deathly glare she gave him was met with a smug and somewhat seductive glint in his familiar chocolate eyes. "Oh come now, I can't be that bad, can I?"

"Oh yes, yes you can." She raised her hand and flicked his mask, making him flinch a bit. "I'd feed you to 682 if the council didn't need you."

He let her go and watched her stand up and brush herself off before gently gripping her chin and tugging her down to his level. She growled, disliking how touchy he was being. He felt her giving off that dangerous aura again. He didn't mind though. He liked it actually. He liked pushing her temper to this point. It gave his thrill-seeking mind a challenge. Her fists trembled slightly, a rush of adrenaline bursting into her veins as she barely held back the urge to punch him. Few managed to bring her to this dangerous edge which she called the end of her temper but Dr. Cool seemed to get a little kick out of doing so. With a rough shove she managed to push the male away and stormed past him, knocking his shoulder on the way. Even here, in the small "garden" area the site had, filled with lush vegetation, flowers, and fauna where one could go and relax when they had the time, the most peaceful place on the site, she could get no peace. Cool was determined to aggravate her as much as he could. He was such a child at times. She was in no way amused however. He chuckled as he watched her go but didn't follow this time. He had to check on his Mobile Task Force.

He hummed a tune to himself as he walked into the training area. Alpha-6 had just left after a game of football. He smirked to himself at the sight of his proud Mobile Task Force but furrowed his brow a bit. Two people were missing.

Candice sighed softly as she rummaged through the documents. Alex sat next to her with a cup of coffee. "Still nothing?"

Her groan of frustration gave him the only answer he needed. The redhead placed a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, Candy. Something will turn up eventually, I'm sure of it."

"It makes no sense. They're all related somehow, we know this, but without even the slightest form of a cause or even how they're connected we're better off having nothing." Candice ran her fingers through her white-blond hair and glanced at another paper before tossing it aside. The sudden clearing of a throat caught both of their attention. The woman in the doorway had dirty blond hair and blue eyes that seemed like they'd belong to a predator. A young predator at that. Her black jumpsuit, white shirt, and ballistic vest, topped with the black jack boots and mask she was holding in her gloved right hand gave away that she was with Alpha-1. That is, if the insignia on her ID card didn't already.

"Bertha?" A light bulb flickered in Candy's head as she realized why the face looked so familiar. This was Alpha-1's second in command and Dr. Cool's number one bodyguard. Bertha Wolfgang. The woman walked over, dropping her mask on the table and plopping herself down into a chair. Alex shuddered. Candice almost immediately realized that he was scared of her and her blood grew hot with anger.

"Agent White told me about what you're up to." She narrowed her eyes at Candice. Candice gave a half-annoyed glare back, trying to hide the sudden dread that was dripping into her stomach. Alex took a short step back. Bertha trained first-hand with Dr. Cool and Candice was too fast to be hit. If they somehow managed to get into a fight from this sudden tension it would be the unstoppable force meets the immovable object. What shocked them both was the file that Bertha dropped in front of them.

"I had to do a bit of digging and managed doing so without attracting the Doctor's attention, here." Candice picked out one of the files. "This is a log of every Keter class' behavior in the last year."

"So you noticed the changes too."

"Difficult not to when it's all your commander talks about."

That caught Candice's attention. "Cool's aware of this?"

"Naturally. He hasn't let on to the council the strange pattern but I'm guessing P and O noticed it as well." Bertha looked at the woman. "Unfortunately, as close to him as I am, I'm still unsure of why he wouldn't tell the council."

Candice gave her an odd look. "Isn't it obvious?"

"What do you mean?"

"12's attracted too much attention from the O5 council and the Ethics Committee for his past crimes. No evidence has come to light, but we all know he's responsible. You should know this, Wolfgang." Candice narrowed her eyes. "You've helped him get away with it."

Bertha said nothing and after a moment Candice continued. "He wouldn't tell the council unless he wanted something done and while he does want something done, he, like us, doesn't have enough evidence to prove these incidents are linked. The council won't do anything without express evidence. They've had just too many mishaps from a lack of proof."

"We have proof." All three looked towards the doorway and saw Dr. P standing there, a laptop clutched under his right arm. He took a seat among them, moving some papers. "I knew something was going on. O insisted on experimenting but this confirms my suspicions."

Bertha looked at him. "You knew about Dr. Cool's theory?"

Candice gawked. "You knew we were sniffing about?"

P adjusted his tie. "Correction, I had heard snips among the MTF teams of strange behavior in SCPs and began digging in to it, asking questions. Within a few hours I started reading documents, logs on objects. I asked O about it and she filled me in on what she knew. The 173 incident gave me the last piece I needed. She and I have been staying up the past few night and digging through private servers. That's when we found this. He opened the laptop, tapping for several seconds before moving it so all three could see the screen. It was a private chat between two members.

 _CIA3441: Good to hear from you._

_AGEVB: I have news._

_AGEVB: The software is working effectively. The hardware is just strong enough to handle it._

_CIA3341: Excellent. How many are left?_

_AGEVB: According to my calculations, there are approximately 192 left._

_CIA3341: We're making good progress. Keep it up._

_[END OF LOG]_

"Short and sweet. But abnormal software should only be able to work on SCPs like 079." Alex crossed his arms. Candice gripped the document in her hand, a light switching on.

"Obviously it's not, and whoever this is is getting the exact effect they want." P stated.

"Wait... That correlates with... On February 21st of 2016 at 13:45, SCP-999 began to make a whining noise and appeared to be clutching its "head". A scientist was sent in to question it, claiming that upon examination, 999 appeared to be on the verge of tears. Upon questioning, SCP-999 stated that that there was "a loud sound that was making its head hurt". The scientist asked 999 to describe the sound and analysis claimed it similar to a dog whistle."

Dr. P grabbed another paper. "On March 19th of 2016, SCP-682 began showing signs of extreme aggression, flailing in its containment cell. Breach restraints were successfully placed on the lizard. Upon questioning, SCP-682 demanded the scientist disarm whatever machine was creating that "wretched noise". When the scientist explained there was no sound being played, 682 countered, claiming it sounded like a chainsaw and nails on a chalkboard.

Candice looked at P. "Run a full scan of site security for malware, recent downloads and data transfers."

P agreed and loaded a full list of all hidden and unhidden Foundation documents within the last several years. A ding from the laptop indicated that the history had been completely retrieved. "Now filter it for sound files."

The three watched the screen as all sound files uploaded and downloaded to the database were revealed. One caught Bertha's eyes immediately. She pointed to one that didn't have the same small icon as all the others. "That one's encrypted."

Dr. P hooked up his onion router and encryption bypassing software and opened the file within a matter of moments before loading the audio into his playback software. He played the file and all three listened. At first they heard nothing but several seconds later, Candice groaned and rubbed her temple. It was bothering her. She could hear whispers in her ear. They sounded ominous. A mix of kind, pleasing, sweet, threatening, evil. Some sang softly, some complimented her. Some were aggressive, threatening to hurt her. That was when the chainsaw started. It revved like it was right in her ear, and she could hear tortured screams as it began to sound muffled, like it was cutting into something soft but thick. It faded and the screams died down, now being replaced by the sound of what she could only assume was a dog howling in agony. A dog whistle pierced her ear drums and made her cringe as it amplified in volume. She was horrified at what came next. The sound of tools being sharpened, yelling, squealing, the screaming of a child. She covered her ears and looked at the other three, wondering how they weren't absolutely horrified. But they couldn't hear it. That was when voices began to whisper dangerously loudly, "It was you". Candice suddenly screamed, making all three jump as she fell to the floor. Dr. P stopped the audio and immediately went with Alex to help her up.

"Why did you-"

"That audio... They're using it somehow to stir up aggression and other abnormal behavior. I could hear it..." Dr. P's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered. That was right. Candice was an SCP. SCP-3015. Whatever this was it was specially programmed to target anomalies, specifically SCPs. Meaning something outside of the Foundation was behind this. Whatever it was, it was intelligent. But it was also someone within the Foundation.

"I'm taking her to the Psychology department." Alex looked at the O5. P nodded and watched them leave before turning back to Bertha. "I'm going to do more research on this. Make sure Cool stays out of this, and, as much as I hate to ask this of her, deliver Dr. O a message for me. Tell her to try and manipulate Cool's attention as much as she can. Keep him out of this as long as she can or at least until I see fit."

Bertha raised a brow. "Why though? Cool can handle the knowledge."

"It's not handling the knowledge that I'm worried about. Knowing Cool, he's going to try and take this little evidence to a problem we're just scratching the surface of and try running it to the council for approval to kill someone. People are going to die. Innocent people. Cool's still young and reckless, even if he is an O5." P placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "We all know 12 has his heart in the right direction and wants to do what's good and what will benefit all of humanity rather than a small percentage of it. The trouble arises in how he goes about it. He's too misguided and I guarantee it's because of the 682 incident. Please Bertha, no matter what he says, he's still young and still so naïve in his own stubborn ways. Protect him and teach him that doing what's best for everyone may not always be what's best for himself."

Bertha looked into the slightly older male's ice blue eyes, recognizing the shine of someone who'd seen love and loss, coupled with a tired glint and friendly familiarity, and nodded. "Yes, sir."

From outside the room, the masked male pulled his ear away from the door. He had all he needed to know and more. Perhaps too much more...


	5. Chapter 4: Melancholy

"Peters." O rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she flicked on the light switch to the small kitchen of their living space. It was more of an apartment of sorts. She quickly peeked into Dr. Cool's room, seeing he was still fast asleep and quietly shutting the door so the light wouldn't bother him. "What are you still doing up?"

Dr. P continued to stare at the computer screen, typing rapidly as multiple papers printed out of the printer next to him. O sighed at his silence and made herself a cup of chamomile tea, mixing a tea spoon of honey in and stirring it. She took a sip as she watched him, eyes growing heavy with sleepiness. P had been doing this all day. He needed a break.

O opened her mouth to say something but P cut her off with a sleepy, soft voice. "Just 5 more minutes. And keep it down. We don't want-"

P was cut off as Dr. Cool's room door opened. The masked man groaned at the sudden flood of light, eyes adjusting before he looked at the two and raised a brow. O groaned and rubbed her temple. "Great, now what are you doing up?"

"I had a nightmare." He narrowed his eyes at her before spotting the tea in her hand. His gaze soften and he cleared his throat. "Ahem... Celeste... Could you perhaps..."

"Say no more." For the first time in a while, O gave the male a smile. A soft gentle one that was more motherly than anything at that, but a smile. He nodded and sat down, adjusting his robe. As P closed his computer for the night and placed the documents in a folder, he sat back, rubbing his face.

"I need some tea too."

"You also need a shower. Go do that while I make our tea." P nodded and got up, heading to the bathroom.

"You know, you would make an excellent mother." Dr. Cool observed her baby pink pajamas with teddy bears and hearts on it. O didn't look at him as she boiled the tea.

"I've been told that a multitude of times."

"All the same, it's true." He stood up and leaned his arms on the counter as he looked at her. Something looked different about her now that he was closer. Aside from her wears of course.

"Your hair isn't tied up."

"Your beret's off." She looked up at him, her eyes reading tiredness and a shine that asked 'where are you going with this?'.

"I didn't know it was so curly. You always have it so straight and usually in a ponytail." For once his hand was not gloved and he reached out, gently grabbing a bit of her hair and feeling it. Soft, amazingly so. He gently twirled the hazel locks between his fingers, smiling a bit to himself when she didn't pull away. Truth be told he was a bit weary at the moment, mostly from drowsiness, but he was amazed she hadn't pulled away yet. Was she finally warming up to him in a small way?

Of course not. It was the middle of the night and she was exhausted from a late shift. It wasn't that she was welcoming his touch, she was simply too tired to pull away. It did feel kind of nice though. She liked when people gently played with her hair, not that'd she'd say it though. She'd given up pleasure a long time ago...

She gently pulled her little red elephant tea pot off of the stove and took the lid off, letting it cool for a bit before pouring two cups and stirring a tea spoon of honey into each. Dr. Cool was still twirling the little piece of chocolate in his hands, only letting it slip from his fingertips when she placed his cup of tea in front of him. He smiled to himself and thanked her, sitting at the table and staring at the tea. With one hand he held the cup, the other gripping the bottom of his mask. How was he going to do this? O gave a little whistle and he nearly jumped at suddenly seeing her next to him. She held out a straw and he gladly took it, plopping it into his tea and placing it under his mask carefully, taking some small sips of the hot fluid.

O sat across from him and looked over as P stepped out of the bathroom. He wore normal trousers and was still putting on a shirt, yet she still managed to catch a glimpse of his toned abs. He slid the button up over his head, his black hair still dripping with water. She handed him his tea and he sat among them, sipping it. Here it was. A grace period between the three O5s. They all sat in a calm silence and drank tea, not needing to speak a word as nearly half the site slept in a calm harmony. Not that it would last.

"Hurry the Hell up, Cool!" The door swung open as the masked man stepped out, still adjusting his jackboots. They were untied...

"Oh for fuck's sake, give me your leg." O sat down and Cool place his foot in her lap, watching as she quickly double knotted each shoe.

"Now come on!" She grabbed her hat as both raced down the hall. A siren was going off, a voice was yelling on the intercom but words merged together. It was only 5:00 AM, what the hell was going on? Researchers were fleeing down the corridors and papers were every where, faintly they could hear the sound of gas, as if a pipe had burst and was now leaking. O opened a door and a plume of gas fell over the two. She jumped back and took a deep breath before rushing in. The room was an office corridor. In a sudden panic tables and chairs had been turned and papers scatters. Dr. Cool was doing fine, as his mask filtered out the gas. O was in worse shape though. She didn't have a mask and was trying to hold her breath until they made it to the other side. It didn't help that neither could see their own hand in front of their face. A crash resounded within the room, the sound of something or another falling.

"O, where are you?" Cool tried to look around, eyes watering from the fumes surrounding them. The hissing sound rang in his ears above everything, clouding out the sounds of the woman coughing and sputtering. She gasped, unable to hear Cool yelling as black spots danced in her vision. She was just barely standing now and reached out weakly. They were only halfway through the room and she could only feel Cool's fingertips brush her palm. She swayed, feeling Cool's hand grab her own. The lack of oxygen was going to her head. She fell to her knees, not hearing her colleague calling out to her as her eyes slipped shut.

"Celeste!" He gripped her arm with both hands as she collapsed. As much as he wanted to yell they didn't have time for this and that they needed to get up, he knew she wasn't going to get up. He slid a hand under her knees and the other under her shoulders, lifting her up and quickly passing through the room. It was impossible to see what was in front of him. His leg got caught on a chair that had been flipped and he nearly fell over, throwing his other foot forward and stomping it down to catch himself. The method of rushing ahead wasn't working, he needed something else and quickly. Then an idea struck him. He carefully moved Dr. O onto his back, wrapping her limp arms around his neck and positioning her legs around his waist so that the heels of her boots would be secured on his belt. He crawled on his belly, the full weight of the unconscious woman on top of him being the least of his problems. The hissing grew louder as he tried to crawl to the door. He swept his arms across the floor, checking for objects that could block his path. Something soft brushed his gloved fingers. He reached out for it and it was gone but he could feel a nearby wall and crawled along it, eventually making his way to a pipe. Without warning a burst of gas from the pipe clouded his face, causing him to yelp. He rubbed his eyes and through blurred vision he could see it. Standing there in front of him, a piece of pipe clutched in its tiny stuffed arms, was the Builder Bear. SCP-1048.

He stared in shock and it stared back, before quickly rushing away. He scrambled after it, hearing it scatter into the vent. It couldn't be chased now but he could hear the door opening and light just filtering through streams of gas as his second in command called out.

"Dr. Cool! Sir!"

"We're over here, Bertha." He stood again, holding Dr. O close to him and quickly making his way towards the door. As soon as he made it through, Bertha shut the door behind him and rushed to his side.

"Are you injured, sir?" Then she noticed the unconscious Eight in his arms.

"Never you mind that, have a medical team on there way. O needs help and she needs it now." Bertha nodded and gripped her radio, her orders for an emergency medical unit to come melting as he focused on his colleague. He pulled up two chairs and set her down in one, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Celeste, answer me!" After a few moments, O responded with a cough, rubbing her throat and chest as she whispered with a hoarse voice.

"I-I'm fine..." Dr. Cool hadn't noticed how tense he was until he felt his muscles relax. He nodded a bit and placed a hand on her arm.

"Take it easy. A medical team will be here in a bit." She furrowed her brow and pushed his arm away. "I don't need a medical team, there's an emergency."

She stood up, gripping the chair for support until she was sure she could stand up her. She was a bit dizzy and her head was pounding. At first she saw three Dr. Cools but after several blinks she was relieved to find that there was still only one. She trudged down the hall and Cool sighed before following.

"Eight, you breathed in a lot of gas, you need to sit down for a moment."

"Tch, that helps. The MTFs called for an emergency and I've been asleep?" She picked up the pace, starting to feel better. Her throat was still sore but that was at the back of her mind as she tore down another corridor, Cool trying to follow close behind and convince her to turn around. She brushed him off though until she met with her MTF team. Candice immediately rushed to her, explaining the situation. She only gripped bits and pieces of it but was able to put those bits and pieces together.

"There was a pipe burst in Sector 104, Office room 911." Candice stated. "We sent a gas team to deal with it and see if it was repairable and just a few seconds ago they commed us saying an entire piece of pipe was gone!"

Cool walked up beside her. "It was SCP-1048. I saw it."

The whole room fell dead silent and looked at him. The tension was raised by shudders and snips of whispers from the MTFs on standby. Bertha returned with a medical unit moments later and a ventilator mask. Dr. O took it and nodded taking several deep breaths into it and looking at the younger O5 beside her. The look she gave him demanded an explanation.

"Dr. O and I heard the call and rushed but didn't expect the room to be full of gas so quickly. My mask allowed me safety from the gas. O was not so lucky however. While I was getting us both out I stuck close to the wall. I came across the burst pipe and saw the thing take the piece of the pipe. We stared at each other for a moment before it ran off." The murmuring grew louder and the two O5s made eye contact for a moment before O was ushered into the medical ward for examination. Dr. Cool's gaze on her lingered for a few moments before Bertha tugged his arm and he shrugged it off, heading with her to a nearby computer.

That was when he felt something stuck in his leather neck collar. It was relatively small and at first he thought it was a stray wire. No, a light on his mask would be blinking if that was the case. It was quite cold though, he found it odd how he hadn't noticed this thing earlier. He grimaced and carefully reach his fingers into his collar, feeling them brush against something. With delicate precision he extracted whatever it was from his wear. The object that now lay in his palm looked like it was made of metal. It had a heart shape and was connected to chain, both metallic in color. Gold. Engrave in it was the name "Mandy". His eyes widened once he realized just what it was he was carrying.

A locket. Dr. O's locket.


	6. Chapter 5: Downfall

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="09eb3d6572ddb18ad2dd5e8827bb36a1"The brunette stood up and adjusted the cap on her head as she stretched. She'd still been recuperating in the infirmary when the agent ran in. Dr. O turned her gaze to the male in front of her, his green eyes wide with slight panic and alertness and a thin coat of sweat layering his dark skin./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="27fdbf67737a5ef517b1fa2ae9c31c48""Ma'am, SCP-1048 has been located!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="00fd53e6665ff811168d74a7601fa955"O nodded and dismissed the agent as she walked down the hall to a conference room full of commotion. Tension and excitement seemed to fill the air with electricity as the rowdy MTFs chatted nervously. The fizzling seemed to die down when she walked in though, and they turned their attention towards her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ff01ec191174fed6be6903e5d5d0099f""As I'm sure you all know, we've located SCP-1048, but we're going to need a plan to capture it." The MTFs remaining murmurs hushed as Agent Bomb threw down a blueprint layout of the site./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3ca49de13f28a9d6b97bf203c3225c76""Ma'am, I believe I have the solution."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4e97bce5e680a3793adca03d5cc8523f"_/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="999033d6e16fa28d62199013c61ba808""SCP-1048 seems to be lingering in the Keter district of the site, here." Candice used a red marker to circle the teddy bear's believed point of location. "It's primary method of travel seems to be the vents."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="377e3660e116c2005faabcdf6f09627c""But why use materials from the Safe district on the opposite side of the site?" Dr. P, who had walked in just a few minutes before the discussion, inquired./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4bd673d326b3c72a9c2288e13e03dc68""This thing is far more intelligent than we thought. It's trying to lead us astray by making us believe it's in the Safe area. Which means..." O took a black marker and used it to outline the area on the map where all Euclid classes were contained. "This is where its little creations are being made."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8d9ddfc0abbb1454a09a8e1d5a75e9bc""Right... However!" Agent Bomb, with his eyes made for design, pointed out the checkpoint areas. "The checkpoint bays dividing each sector do not have a vents connected. There's a small division through the offices here, meaning that at some point throughout its creation process, 1048 has no choice but to exit the vents to move forward."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="50cd981540fc31937a00e306a8c5717d"Candice held up a report. "And that coincides with all the reports of it and its instances, its been spotted in these office areas more than anywhere else."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="011a0c8d0abc2e9dd9ae15cb6bc86c34""Good eye, Candice." O tapped her chin. "But how is this going to help us secure it?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9d7d276a222f74e6dbc4d2a7a0dfd88c""1048 needs material for its creations, and if it can't get that then it has to come out to look for some." Bomb stated. "But, like any bear, perhaps we could confuse it by leaving it out in the open and waiting for the bear to come and take the bait, then snag it."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ec45fea5fafd127310584a47ec0f3bf9"O looked at him. "A literal bear trap."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="63ea2c43bbe44895ade44f20f3f9dc98""Exactly."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6e8904387b79bacf81760d7973f8bde8""Okay, so how do we execute it?" P crossed his arms. Bomb pulled out another blueprint. The last known sighting was that it was heading East towards the Safe area, so on its way back to the Euclid section, it likely will be passing through the Euclid-Safe checkpoint. We leave it some material there and wait throughout the night, then pounce on our prey. I can stun it with some cosmetics and somebody has to bag it."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c703ad355d64af9a8e1176d5c60aa80e""This is a risky operation. Anything could go wrong." P looked at the team. "Are we really doing this?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a1b40cfe9d6a8ac27f9f43b75f7bc411""Do we have any other choice?" O responded with a question. "It's a chance, a risk, and we're willing to take it. Are you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f5381c20b51315477cd5e0965b21be94"P thought long and hard for a moment before nodding with a confident smile. "I'm in."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fd7f58e728fb6eb585b27cd0b1608d9"_/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bbade6cff0166ceac0805db93f4b3676""You're insane."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a920c904432b442b0ff996cd8c300b37""You're young and reckless. What are we trying to say here?" O poured herself a cup of tea and took a sip of it as the male stared at her in disbelief. The plan didn't fly by him. Not in the slightest./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a9a5e43409f23cb8489aa92bbbef2ee4""You really think this is going to be a simple hunting job?! That thing is a Keter class, let me handle it!" Dr. Cool stomped up to her, but his height in comparison to hers was simply too comical for her to take him seriously./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="209b88ff9127276c7da2398395ac6554""It's already been decided 12. You want to help so badly then start devising containment plans for this monster."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5288413d9accb8aec876717fe75e4a1b""You didn't even ask my approval!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fe07d07e779d9638a5aa08c69eb446de""Listen to yourself, Cool, I didn't ask because I knew you'd say no. Which side of this argument are you trying to support, yours or mine?" Dr. Cool paused for a moment and focused his glare on the wall beside him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c5584007425839f645e67ae47dea3b54""You want to help, Cool. Your heart is in the right place but your mindset is too fixed. You're still a reckless boy who grew up far too soon." O stated, looking down at him. His eyes widened and focused back on her, angered by her words./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="319d3ff912d3270f2132017e21652cc9""And who are you, not much older than myself, to be lecturing me as though I were a child?! I know full well the consequences of my tasks and I've lived with them! You speak as though you know me personally and as though you've felt what I've felt."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a2d6287cb5abf58ce4512f1b969bd7cd"O sighed and shook her head before giving him a hard stare and heading for the door. The words that tumbled from her lips would have broken his heart if it hadn't already shattered long ago, hardened, and iced over with apathy./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dae9f43fb89144b195d9a8dcd8fcb07a""The way you say it... You think you're the only one who lost someone they cared about to a monster."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="17671ec09ca5ad93b251317531bf1cc5"With that, she walked out and left the male alone in the apartment-like enclosure to himself and to his thoughts. He stared at the door so long he'd lost track of time before he finally sat down rubbed his temples. She didn't know his pain. She didn't know him. It infuriated him how she went against his words. Then he remembered the locket in the pocket of his coat. He reached into it and let it rest in his palm for several minutes as he stared at it. That was when he noticed the tiny button on its side. Curious, he pushed it, and inside were two photos./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="13fe318b1b7e774dfab28f262aa2f3ab"The first was of a little girl, bright brown eyes and sun gold hair, alongside two adolescents, one donning ocean blue eyes and raven hair, a boy, and one with hair the color of dark chocolate with bright hazel eyes that sparkled. There was a woman with the same brown hair and sparkling blue eyes like the sky on a clear day, and a man with the chocolate locks of what he assumed was his daughter, hazel eyes shimmering and sparkling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5736655d6392c3c9ab0f4897035a63f4"The second picture was of a young woman, no older than eighteen, dressed in standard military gear with chocolate colored hair the familiar hazel eyes, with a tan arm wrapped around her waist, belonging to the male beside her, also wearing military gear. He seemed around the same age, maybe a few years older, and had hair slight darker than the woman's, but buzzcutted. He had a goatee and wore rounded glasses similar to Dr. O's, a joyful smile on both of their faces. Cool's eyes widened as he realized the woman in the picture was Dr. O. He closed the locket and placed it back in his coat./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6441b6aad80018d2bff8088c37d082f4"Now he had a few questions to ask her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dac9743cc09bb19666b3686d13c3fcfc"_/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="610ae77c5508c9f8c7f5b16b98ad1ff1"The office was void of any life, all researchers moved into temporary stations until this. Everything was left neat and tidy so as not to arouse the Bear's suspicion. Now they played the waiting game. Dr. P was in one of the nearby offices on his computer, monitoring the bait room's security system cameras and desktop screens for any unusual activity. The MTFs had the entire sector surrounded and ten of the most skilled of them, including Candice, we hidden right outside the room where they were sure the bear wouldn't see them and were wearing research uniforms to disguise themselves. The room had several scraps of leather, metal, and plastic in it, scattered about./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6bce5f33d9a7c230c96b7e3c08aafe3a"Hours passed, tense hours of nothing but silence. Dr. P rested his hand on his cheek and was just about to drift off to sleep when the mic picked something up. "Stand by." He commed. Everyone was on edge now./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="70af22f7cf75c6407e753f204aa6e639"In the room was a faint rattling sound that could only be heard with the dead silence around them. The screws on one vent were already loose, something they hadn't noticed earlier, as it slowly slid open. Not very wide but just wide enough for the small creature to slide itself out. First came its head, the small brown bear's furry head and nose, stitched mouth, and black beads for eyes poked out, carefully looking around. Then it seemed to take notice of the objects on the floor. It retreated and soon enough came its two little legs, followed by its stuffed body and cotton tail, as it slid out of the vent backwards. It fell to the floor and walked over to a piece of bait, lifting the plastic up and observing it before turning to the nearest computer. It dropped the material and walked over, hopping up on the chair and onto the table./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5cd9147263f0903575a2b7923d50c94d""What the hell is it doing?" O muttered as she watched the security cam./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7d08dd6e7185e52d57e21505c9affdad"P checked the desktop surveillance and both were shocked at what they saw. The bear began typing away, activating an encrypted chat box and logging into it as Dr. Victor Blanks, head researcher of SCP-173, before adding a second member to the chat. CIAB2014. P recorded the conversation that followed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d719c015375748f39cc3b5b96600d112"CIAB2014: This better be good. I'm in the middle of a meeting./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f6f8b896273a2de50af27ae1e89d1ec6"SCPVB: Construction nearly 85% complete. DNA sample retrieved. Specimen incapacitated./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ff3f6d5f2baacffd68762984d5cf49a3"CIAB2014: Estimated time of arrival./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9070d73ea5e9cd01f194bb1817fac89f"SCPVB: For me, approximately three days. June 17. Storm said to hit general location. Power down by 200 hours. Locks dropped. Free./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6c5fd47e25673ba858d79569e6659aec"CIAB2014: Excellent. Complete your creation. See you then./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="afc7ad92a8cbca567bea0494d3231d70"[END OF LOG]/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b666129c5ade1d4b64473a4d399b9eb8"P didn't hesitate and grabbed the radio. "NOW!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b7dbb9052a625ca97a2e8d9d32915f3d"The MTFs sprung up and bolted inside the room, closing off all escape routes. The bear seemed stunned, as it was now pulling the computer apart and holding the pieces in its tiny paws. Candice grabbed it tightly, causing it to thrash and squirm for a minute, pounding on her hand as if its legs were useless and it was about to be eaten by a vicious titan. They secured the area and moved it to a class 5 Keter-level containment cell. After inspecting it for any escape routes, the stuffed toy was quickly thrown inside and secured with triple locks./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="cde85903f6f93b974c91b77f51a4bdd4""Black to Command, target has been secured and is in containment." Both O5s sighed and nearly collapsed backwards into their chairs before Dr. O made an announcement./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="08c1f608be2e4a8a521bbb90ac7cdade""Attention all staff of Site-28, SCP-1048 has successfully been contained. I repeat, SCP-1048 has successfully been contained."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="18903da015f9e8f4a72eb5da4c5b0bd7"All throughout the site, people let go of breaths they didn't even know they'd been holding, cheers and congratulations were spread around, and for the first time in a while, both O5s could finally smile, feeling fully and truly joyed at the accomplishment of what they'd done./p 


	7. Chapter 6: Tangled Web

There was a commotion among the MTFs as they shared a few last laughs. Many had already finished packing and were back in the landing bay waiting for their choppers to come pick them up and whisk them back to their respective sites.

"I can't believe it. We actually did it." Alex laughed as he held his backpack over his shoulder. Candice playfully punched his shoulder and giggled.

"Yep! Seems like a miracle in itself what we've accomplished. Maybe MTF should stand for Miracle Task Force."

The two laughed at the weak joke before straightening up. "It's been great seeing you again, old friend."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Candice looked down for a moment, then back at Alex. "You think we'll get another chance to work together."

"It'll be sooner than you think, Candy. Chin up!" The redhead beamed, causing the woman to smile.

"Alright people! Let's wrap this up!"

"Alpha-1, please report to landing bay 6 for take off. Alpha-6 please report to landing bay 5. We will be leaving momentarily." The intercom came on.

The two nodded to each other and said their goodbyes, walking over to the MTF teams. The commanders followed close behind, getting onto the aircrafts first. Alpha-1 fell silent as Dr. Cool walked past them, Bertha by his side. He was about to enter the air craft but stopped at the entrance, looking over at his colleague who was standing on the platform and viewing her team.

"18, 19... Ay yi yi..." O face palmed as she realized one team member was missing, and wouldn't she know it. Agent Bomb came sprinting out of the site, several swearing researchers covered head to toe in glitter glue and silly string of varying colors yelling after him. He laughed as he bolted past several guards, just flashing his ID badge as he passed before diving into the swarm of his team. Lost in the crowd, the scientists gave up the chase.

So occupied was Dr. O with the amusing sight that she nearly jumped out of her skin as a finger tapped her shoulder and she turned, nose and lips almost brushing the cold metal of her fellow O5's mask. She took a quick step back however and looked at him.

"Looking to miss your flight now, Twelve?" O raised a brow. Dr. Cool merely chuckled in that same proud, charismatic way that he always did.

"Actually, I have something that I believe belongs to you... Mandy."

Dr. O's eyes widened slightly, a hand flying up to her neck. The locket! One of the hands that Dr. Cool nearly always kept behind his back extended towards her, gloved fingers uncurling to reveal the little gold memory that she'd misplaced. She took it from him and observed it. Sure enough, her nickname was engraved in it and she placed it around her neck again before looking at him to see that he was already heading back to his chopper, engines ready to go.

"Cool." She called out. He looked at her from the chopper door, one brow raised and a sly smirk on his face, given away only by the glint in his eyes. She smiled a bit and tipped her hat, a sign of thanks to him. He chuckled and tipped his beret back at her before vanishing into the vehicle as the door slid shut.

The flight was rather quiet with a few members chatting about things they'd seen during the stay there. Agent Bomb had put on quite a show throughout the visit, with no shortage of pranks for researchers to fall into. Several laughed about one of the more attention grabbing ones he'd pulled off, which involved a researcher trying to turn on an unplugged computer and when they looked under the desk to check the cable, they got a pie stuffed with cosmetics, giving them a flawless Chinese bride look mixed with cherry filling. The joke was in the center of a busy office, meaning everyone was around to gawk or glare at the male before he bolted. Dr. O, Dr. P, Candice, Kayla, and Candy's sister, Agent Clementine, were playing poker. P was winning, but not for long.

O set down her cards one by one. P gaped. "Royal flush?!"

"Welp!" Clem threw her cards down. "That's the end of that game."

"So what are we going to do about the soundwaves?" P asked as he reshuffled the deck. O shrugged however and took a sip of earl gray tea from her thermos cup. "For now, we've intercepted one of the messengers. Our next step is to figure out who the other is and keep on our toes for the date given."

Suddenly a thought occurred to Candice. One that made her logical sensors scream at her to say something. "Wait just a second... Doctor Peterson, could you pull up the profile on Doctor Victor Blanks?"

Dr. P raised a brow and pulled out his laptop, opening it and waiting for it to boot up. The black screen eventually showed a white foundation logo before it spun and moved off screen, prompting him to type in his password. Within a few minutes, a record of every member to ever work at the Foundation was pulled up. He clicked on one tab.

"Doctor Victor Jonathon Blanks, Level 3 personnel, Male, 5'9", 23. 9 kilograms, Age: 48. Deceased. Was found dead during a breach event of SCP-173 in 2011. Cause of death was severely deformed spine and cervical fracture, likely caused by 173 upon escaping. Worked for the Foundation for 8 years and was in charge of SCP-173's surveillance." Dr. P turned the computer screen so the four could see the face of the man. He had tanned skin and slight stubble growing around his face. His hair was long, to his shoulders, and a raven color with a piece of it dyed blonde and another piece dyed silver. He had forest green eyes that seemed to reflect the very woodland leaves that swayed on a summer's day and a large scar on his left cheek that looked old.

"If Blanks is dead, then who was it we saw?" Candice crossed her arms. Both O5s eyes widened as they looked at each other.

"That date... That is the day that SCP-173 is being transferred from Site-19 to Site-28."

"Someone else is involved here though. I doubt 1048 would know about our time strict schedule." Clementine said.

"Perhaps not, but transfers are when the site is most susceptible to a containment breach. These delicate operations are made ten times harder if we have something going or coming. Someone knows this and worked it into their formula so that someone else can get it. And if my suspicions are correct, whoever's trying to get in is likely looking to turn those bastards loose." Dr. P summarized, removing his gloves and shutting his laptop.

"My thoughts exactly." Dr. O agreed ad leaned her head back, removing her glasses and folding them before hooking them onto her shirt collar.

"But who is it that's trying to infiltrate us?" Kayla asked, leaning her chair back.

"Kayla, keep the chair on the floor. For now, we just don't know. Is there anyone with ties to Blanks?" Candice asked.

"173..." Clementine muttered, causing her sister to roll her eyes.

"Yes, thank you, Clem, because the sculpture is going to help us keep it locked up."

"No, 1-7-3. It's a date. If you rearrange the numbers in it, you get 7-13. July 13th of last year, at 2: 13 AM, we had a massive site wide breach caused by Chaos insurgency activity in Site-19. We'd been infiltrated and all Hell broke loose. There's more patterns than I can remember." Clem stated.

"The conversations we found between the Builder Bear and our target both started at 2:13 AM. Clementine could be on to something." P leaned forward. The tense thinking was interrupted by Kayla suddenly falling backwards in her chair and collapsing to the floor. She propped herself up on her elbows and gave a sheepish grin to them in return. O merely sighed and rubbed her temples.

"What a tangled web we weave..."


	8. Chapter 7: Hoop Jumping

The feeling of a soft bed in her quarters had never felt so good to Candice. The embrace of a homely feeling washed over her, as did the rich scent of her lavender candles. She'd been away too long said the over excited Dragon Snail, hooting and whistling from her desk beside her. She stretched out her hand and giggled as the small creature slowly slithered into her palm. Her smile widened as she saw the creatures small gooey tail wag back and forth. She spewed tiny sparks of joy as she looked up at her owner. Candice gently ran a finger over the tiny gastropods head and tickled her chin. The small being continued to hoot and whistle, stretching her head up and down excitedly. That was until they heard the scratching at the door and soft whimpering. Candice set down the snail, who was quick to hide in the pencil cup on her desk, peeked out to watch the white blonde open the door.

She was greeted by a black furred blue-eyed Great Dane-bloodhound-grey hound mix roughly three fourths the size of a horse. She recognized the black and white sash that looked overwhelmingly like a saddle and read in bold lettering, "Canine Task Force", next to the familiar logo of Alpha-6 in black and white. The dog sniffed her face and licked its chops before trotting down the hall. Candice shut her office door behind her and followed, knowing the animal wanted her to follow.

"Harsh reminder of how many animals O has, isn't it?" Kayla caught up beside her, the Commander nearly jumping out of her skin.

"I'd completely forgotten. And dammit, Kay! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, sorry." The pinkie giggled as they walked into the training area. Animals were stretched out across the area, all Dr. O's of course.

"Monthly checkup time, I suppose. Let's start with Jonas." They jogged over to the horse, black as night with a coat that shined in an almost metallic way. He was healthy colt whose raven mane almost melted into his coat. Bright blue eyes the color of ice pierced the soul though. The two danced around him, taking his weight and height, checking his hooves and mouth and making sure he was still tame enough to ride. He wasn't easily startled. Kayla made several loud noises and flicked his rump a couple times and he didn't run or even flinch.

"The horse is healthy." Candice fed him a carrot and pet his snout.

"Whose next?" Kayla asked, checking him off.

"The cats." Candice lifted three cats onto a table. The first was a large male, fur the color of chocolate with caramel, sugar, cream, and honey mixed into the blend. It was long and soft, covering his body in a plushy layer. Too long, even for a Maine Coon. The second was an Angora, plushy fur a bit long and a blanket of snow white contoured into a graceful feline form. One eye was a bright cyan, reflecting nothing but the sky, and the other a lime green, like the tropical leaves on a sunny day. The female meowed sat, wrapping her tail around her paws. The third cat was a healthy pink, some thin hairs sparkling on her bare skin if the lighting was just right. Her eyes were a bright hazel color as the little Sphynx focused on the veterinarians in front of her.

"Aries, Gemini, and Libra." Candice looked at the cats and smiled. All well behaved felines, she knew they were healthy. "Aries and Gemini only need some trimming."

"Yeah. P find anything else in the archives or did the messages stop after the SCP was locked up?" Kayla asked as she grabbed the scissors.

"Nothing yet. Maybe it was just the little guy trying to get more materials and be generally destructive."

The two cats barely moved as their lovely coats were cut to a healthy length. Once the task was finished, they simply sat on Jonas' back and waited to be returned to their owner. Next up was Hermes. The Flemish Giant thumped his feet as they checked his ears and measured him.

"Yeah, but what about that project? Is the thing creating some massive replica of itself made of all sorts of materials?" The pinkie looked up as her friend continued clipping the animals shaky talons.

"There's a thought, but I'm afraid we simply don't have enough proof to make me any conclusions. All we can do now is hope for an answer or two." The rabbit seemed a bit displeased with his check up but otherwise his claws were cut and he was left aside. Kayla huffed and left, returning a few minutes later in a bit of a struggle.

"Here comes the hard part." She grunted as the boa continued to wrap around her in a coiling mess. With a bit of help from Candice, they managed to get Hercules off of the woman and onto the table. Not much could be done about his slithering but they managed to check him off of the list and placed him away from the other pets with a few mice. "Yeah, I reckon that'll do us some amount of good."

They could hear soft flapping and claws dancing on the table followed by tweeting. The two birds stood in front of them. The first was a wide eyed African Grass Owl. She wasn't incredibly big, still young, but patient and calm looking all the same. The second was a small, male golden canary, tweeting softly and singing. "Artemis and Apollo."

"So what about the Council? Think they know anything yet?"

"O knows at least. P too. I'm sure Cool knows chunks of it, but no one plans on fleshing it out to the Council. Then again, the O5 know just about everything. Not much hiding from them. Everything will spill when they get the SCP-1048 reports." Candice sighed. Just a few tests on flying and checking for sickness proved the birds were fine, and they were quickly released, Artemis staying on Candice's shoulder. Apollo sat on Jonas' head. Next in line was large, black and gold Schnauzer and German Shepherd mix, Zeus. The dog was nowhere near his mate's size and he was much more friendly. He sat on the table and let them check him, feed him, give him his shots, and trim his claws, licking their faces afterwards.

Candice wiped the slobber from her cheek. "I'm telling you, Kay, I've got a bad feeling about all of this."

"Yeah... Me too..." As he left, a Box Turtle was placed on the table. Athena hissed in protest but poked her head out of her shell and looked at them. Testing for her was a simple cleaning, feeding, and checking for shell degradation. Following her was the fish in a large, spherical fish bowl, a male blue Beta named Poseidon. Inspection was just a bowl cleaning, checking for fin rot, and feeding him flakes.

"It's all going to turn out okay though, you know?" The two turned to see Jacob Daalmans, the dark skinned, leafy-green-eyed male with his bangs dyed in a rainbow. He was wearing typical skinny jeans and a sky blue jacket with his robotic hands stuffed in his pockets. Beside him was Jasper, the adorable little Caracal seemed to be staring happily at the two.

"What are you doing here, Jace?" Candice wiped her hands for the next animal and looked at him.

"Jasper needs his shots again, and a checkup on his robotic parts." Candice nodded and patted her leg, the cat skittering over and into her arms as she leaned down to pick him up. As she set him down she asked, "Anything new in the kennel club set?"

"Nope, I think he's healthy." A few checks with the stethoscope and a quick scan under the MRI proved Jacob was right. She rubbed the Caracal's head gently and gave him a snack, making him purr.

"He's A-okay, Jacob." She handed Jasper to his owner and friend, who smiled in thanks.

The next pet was a gentle Leopard Gecko named Persephone, a sweet female who, when checked, had no problems and immediately started eating her food. Jacob leaned against the table and watched. "So why the tension?"

"You heard about how P found that chat thing?" Kayla looked at him.

"Please, nobody would shut up about it. Even Laffy was overexcited. They still haven't stopped." He rolled his eyes.

Kayla examined the sweet little Axolotl Salamander swimming around in its tank with its frog friend. The white Salamander with pink "whiskers", Iris, and the Bull Frog sitting on a rock, Hades, were fed and checked for sickness or deformities and when none were found, were moved along.

"There has to be more to this though, right? After all, this is the SCP Foundation. Happy endings don't happen here, not even in fairy tales." The pinkie looked at him.

"I feel you. I've got a dark feeling we've barely scratched the surface. This is only the tip of the iceberg." He grimaced. All three were holding their breath. There were questions without answers dangling in the air and no one could quite pick or pull them out of it, but they were there. They were there to tease and taunt them. Jacob's breath hitched for a minute as a sudden thought came to mind. "Hey Candice? Did you hear about the Able thing?"

Candice stopped for a moment, eyes glazing over before she blinked and looked at him. "Able?... What about him?"

Jacob scratched the back of his neck and was ready to continue until he saw the creature in front of him and flinched. The second to last pet, a Tarantula named Arietti, simply sat and ate a dead roach, not needing to be checked for anything. He cringed before looking back at her and seeing her staring. "He's stopped fighting."

"Stopped fighting? Able?"

"Yeah, two weeks ago he broke out of containment and throughout the fight he didn't seem like he was actually trying to kill anything. He seemed somber, distant even. Halfway through, he dropped his weapon and tried to walk away from the chaos. Of course, they thought he was acting and killed him but he respawned yesterday and hasn't left his cell. They tried to interview him but he won't talk unless you're around."

Finally the large horse-dog, Hera. She trotted over, letting the vets check her ears and eyes, feed her, and give her the shots she needed.

"That's everyone." Kayla smiled, but the beam was dimmed by a tense-looking Candice.

"Does this have anything to do with Project Omega-7?" Candice looked at him.

"He hasn't said anything except he wants to see you again." Jacey sighed. "Rumor's are flying that O5 is sending you down to his site to talk to him."

Candice adorned a disgusted look. "He's a Keter, meaning that Cool will probably be there and god knows everyone's had enough of him."

"Yeah, he was on top of everyone trying to get answers. And Candy, you know when 12 wants something, he always gets his way." Jacey gave her a look as a chill ran up his spine, the sudden memory of a gun pointed at Jasper in a cage flashed in his mind.

"Believe me, I know."

"Cool's an O5, he should be above threatening people with life or death consequences." Kayla crossed her arms.

"Just because he should be doesn't mean he is. Dr. Cool is a stubborn, hardened, bull of a man, if he can even be considered human. He is above nothing. If he thinks torturing someone will get answers and make progress, he'll do it." Candice scowled.

"There you are right." All three looked over to see Dr. O walking over. "Cool is still young and too blind with his own pride and naivety to realize that violence is not always the answer. He enjoys making progress by killing for sport in his own twisted way. I guarantee it is because of the SCP-682 incident."

"But all those innocent people..." Jacob was shocked.

"Innocent or not, they're all just a number to him. A number that rises every time he wakes up." Dr. O looked down then turned her gaze on Candice. "Candice..."

A lump formed in the blonde's throat as the O5 took a few steps towards. "I'm transferring you to Containment site 25B where we're keeping SCP-076. You have to speak with SCP-076-2."

"I want no part of it unless you're coming as well." Candice looked at her.

"I'm afraid I've been away too long and must stay here. Pick three MTFs to accompany you. I'm sorry you have to leave after just arriving." Dr. O placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and nodded before walking away. Kayla gave her friend a tender look but knew this was no time for words.

They'd only just returned and once again they had to jump through hoops and into the jaws of danger.


End file.
